Early lung growth and development and timing of insult on the
developing lung
Early post-natal period is marked with new alveoli still rapidly forming
and growing. Lung development occurs over five phases, the first four of
which are in utero. All five phases can be influenced by maternal,
genetic, and environmental factors. A normal newborn has only
approximately 5% of a healthy adult’s alveolar surface area. Lung
infections that occur at the peak periods of somatic lung growth lead to
long-term effects of infectious and non-infectious insults reprogramming
by various gene-environment interactions